They're familiar characters in the debate over controversial
Halloween costumes: suicide bombers, geishas, gangsta rappers, rednecks
and sexy nurses.
Such costumes regularly draw allegations of racism, sexism or insensitivity. But where do fully-clothed folk legends fit in?
American Apparel featured characters on both ends of the spectrum this month in its annual do-it-yourself Halloween costume guide.
Below a collection of pin-up girl costumes -- including a model donning
a breast-baring serape -- was "La Llorona," the ghostly weeping woman
who kidnaps wandering children, according to folklore in parts of Latin
America.
True, she was wearing a
lace bustier under a shawl, but the layers upon layers make her appear
more like the haunted bag lady than a sexy spirit.
Read: Sexy Little Geisha?' Not so much, say many Asian-Americans
It's the folk legend's
cultural significance -- and the lack of skin, save an inch of midriff
-- that, for some, make this costume more acceptable than sexy señoritas
or Mexican tequila guy.
American Apparel featured "La Llorona" in its DIY Halloween costume guide.
"One is mythology, and
the other is a stereotype that comes with a lot of baggage," said
feminist blogger Veronica Arreola, assistant director of the Center for Research on Women and Gender at University of Illinois at Chicago.
It's like dressing up as
the Greek goddess Athena and paying tribute to a specific character
instead of impersonating a stereotype that doesn't represent the culture
as a whole, she said.
"La Llorona is a folk
tale, our bogeyman, our witch from our culture. That as a costume is
better than the idea of someone dressing up in a sombrero or poncho and
deciding 'I'm Mexican today!'" Arreola said.
"We're a culture, not a costume" returns
It's an argument similar to the one an Ohio University student group made last year in its "We're a culture, not a costume" campaign
that spoke out against dressing up as racial and ethnic stereotypes.
The campaign went viral, generating memes often more offensive than the
original images and sparking debate over the line between distasteful
and playful.
The response prompted the group, Students Teaching About Racism in Society,
to refresh its campaign this year. In response to criticism that the
campaign did not incorporate a "Caucasian stereotype," the group added a
new image of an "Appalachian costume" representing "hick" stereotypes,
said Ohio University senior and STARS President Keith Hawkins.
"[We] decided to
continue with the posters because we agreed that they were not only
successful last year but actually made a difference on campus and in the
global community," he said. "We were told by many professors that
students wanted to talk about it, and this is exactly what we were
looking to do. So we hoped we could put out another strong campaign this
year that will continue the message of racial awareness and
inclusively."
Hawkins says the line
between playful and offensive falls at the point where the costume plays
on negative and derogatory stereotypes of a marginalized culture.
"When the costume
portrays a hero or legend in general, I would say it is not offensive,"
he said. "It is the act of either using the hero or legend (or
constructing a separate costume) that over-exaggerates negative
stereotypes that often stigmatize marginalized cultures that makes the
costume offensive."
Natural part of the "assimilation process"
In other words, it's the
way the character is depicted that makes the differences. Like the
cartoonish skulls and decorations that traditionally adorn altars on Day
of the Dead, the appropriation of La Llorona as a costume is a sign of
mainstream America absorbing aspects of Latino culture, said Marisa
Treviño, founder and publisher of Latina Lista.
"I think it's a natural progression of the whole assimilation process," Treviño said.
However, that she
appears in the American Apparel ad alongside women in hot pants, tube
tops and garter belts shows that the tendency to exploit female
sexuality for the sake of costumes still prevails, both women agreed.
In some ways, sexism in
Latin America's mass media bears some blame for perceptions of Latinas
as buxom sex objects, Treviño said.
"Spanish-language media
bring in programs from Central and South America on a daily basis that
portrays Latinas in this very sexy, provocative way. For people
channel-surfing who are not familiar with the Latino community, those
images stay in their mind," she said.
It's not just a concern
for Latinos, Arreola said. It's something that all women should think
about before they decide to dress as a sexy anything: geisha or farmer's
daughter.
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"There are costumes that
take both of those problems and push them together and we need to deal
with them," she said. "It's getting outrageous."
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